PETITION TO LIST THE Euphilotes ancilla purpura AND Euphilotes ancilla cryptica UNDER THE U.S. ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT Euphilotes ancilla cryptica, a newly described subspecies. Petition Submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Interior Acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Petitioner: WildEarth Guardians 1536 Wynkoop Street, Suite 301 Denver, Colorado 80202 303.573.4898 September 30, 2011 I. Summary The many, varied habitats in the Great Basin of the western United States are home to a vast diversity of flora and fauna, including many endemic species. Speciation and endemism in butterflies is unusually high in the region: there are more than 200 speciesand 700 subspeciesof butterflies in Nevada. The Spring Mountains are a sky island and a biological hot spot for species endemism in southern Nevada. Speciation in butterflies is significant. Numerous species and subspecies occur throughout the varying elevations and habitat types in the mountain range. Unfortunately, several butterflies in the Spring Mountains are imperiled, mirroring trends elsewhere (New 1997). Butterfly populations and habitat are affected by natural events and myriad human activities (New 1997; Hoffman Black and Vaughan 2003). Many butterfly species need active conservation if they are to persist (New 1997). WildEarth Guardians petitions the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to list two butterflies, Euphilotes ancilla purpora and Euphilotes ancilla cryptica under the Endangered Species Act. Each of these butterflies specializes in or is restricted to limited habitats that are threatened by land uses and other factors. Listing these subspecies as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act would help conserve them and their habitat (Hoffman Black and Vaughan 2003). II. Spring Mountains, Nevada The Spring Mountains are located in southern Nevada, running generally northwest-southeast along the west side of Las Vegas and to the California border. The range is named for the numerous springs to be found, many of them in Red Rock Canyon located on the eastern side of the mountains. The sandstone reefs of Red Rock Canyon separate and bridge higher peaks in the northern and southern parts of the range. The Spring Mountains divide the Pahrump Valley and Amargosa River basin from the Las Vegas Valley and define part of the hydrologic boundary of the Great Basin. The highest peak in the range is Mount Charleston, at 11,918 ft (3,633 m). Most of the Spring Mountains range is located in Clark County, with a small part in Nye County. The Spring Mountains comprise an area of about 857 mi² (2,220 km²). The varied geography, geology and climate in the Spring Mountains create a wide variety of habitats and support high biological diversity. The Spring Mountains ecosystem includes red rock and desert shrublands; low elevation conifer woodlands, montane shrublands and chaparral; high elevation conifer forests; alpine zones; and riparian areas and springs. Most of the Spring Mountains is public land. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manage parts of the mountain range as the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, respectively. Three wilderness areas (Mount Charleston, La Madre Mountain, and Rainbow Mountain) and one BLM Wilderness Study Area (Mount Stirling) are designated in the mountain range. There are also numerous private inholdings in the mountain range. Petition to List Euphilotes ancilla purpura and Euphilotes ancilla cryptica 2 Established in 1993, the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (SMNRA) comprises 316,000 acres and offers a variety of recreational opportunities. The area receives as many as 2.5 million visitors per year. It is administered by the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest under the 1986 Toiyabe National Forest Land and National Resource Management Plan, as amended by the Spring Mountain National Recreation Area General Management Plan (1996). Most habitat for Euphilotes ancilla purpora and Euphilotes ancilla cryptica is found within the SMNRA. III. Endangered Species Act and Implementing Regulations The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) protects plants and animals that are listed by the federal government as endangered or threatened (16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.). Any interested person may submit a written petition to the Secretary of the Interior requesting him to list a species as endangered or threatened under the ESA (50 C.F.R. § 424.14(a)). An endangered species is any species that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range (16 U.S.C. § 1532(6)). A threatened species is defined as any species which is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range (16 U.S.C § 1532(20)). Species includes subspecies and distinct population segments of sensitive taxa (16 U.S.C § 1532(16)). The ESA sets forth listing factors under which a species can qualify for protection (16 U.S.C. § 1533(a)(1)): A. The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of habitat or range; B. Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes; C. Disease or predation; D. The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or E. Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence. A taxon need only meet one of the listing criteria outlined in the ESA to qualify for federal listing. If the Secretary determines that a species warrants a listing as endangered or threatened under the ESA, he is obligated to designate critical habitat for that species based on the best scientific data available (16 U.S.C. § 1533(b)(2)). IV. Spring Mountains Butterflies Petitioned for Listing under the Endangered Species Act WildEarth Guardians petitions to list Euphilotes ancilla purpura and Euphilotes ancilla cryptica as threatened or endangered under the ESA. These endemic butterflies occur in the Spring Mountains in southern Nevada. Subspecies cryptica was recently described (Austin et al. 2008); both subspecies are collectively known as the Spring Mountains dark blue butterfly (Boyd, pers. comm., 08/09/10). Petition to List Euphilotes ancilla purpura and Euphilotes ancilla cryptica 3 NatureServe nationally ranks subspecies purpura as imperiled and within Nevada as critically imperiled/imperiled (NatureServe 2010). Critically Imperiled -- At very high risk of extinction due to extreme rarity (often 5 or fewer populations), very steep declines, or other factors. Imperiled -- At high risk of extinction due to very restricted range, very few populations (often 20 or fewer), steep declines, or other factors. The Forest Service, Region 4, lists Euphilotes ancilla purpura as a sensitive species on the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest (Forest Service 2008). The Nevada Natural Heritage Program considers subspecies purpura rare and at-risk in Clark County, Nevada (NNHP 2004). A. Taxonomy, Description, Life History, Distribution Distinct populations of Euphilotes have been observed and recognized in the Spring Mountains for more than four decades (see Austin et al. 2008: 149). They were eventually classified as endemic subspecies of E. ancilla in 1998 (Pratt and Emmel 1998). Austin (1998) subsequently described the phenotype E. a. purpura in the Spring Mountains, which occurs at the southern extent of known distribution of E. ancilla. Austin et al. (2008) later described E. a. cryptica based on distinct biological and phenological characteristics. Euphilotes ancilla purpura (Austin 1998) Euphilotes ancilla purpura is commonly called the Spring Mountains dark blue butterfly; it is also locally known as the dark blue butterfly. We refer to the subspecies by its scientific name in this petition to distinguish it from E. a. cryptica. Table 1. Taxonomy of Euphilotes ancilla purpura Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Class Insecta Order Lepidoptera Family Lycaenidae Genus Euphilotes Species Euphilotes ancilla Subspecies Euphilotes ancilla purpura Sources: Integrated Taxonomic Information System, www.itis.gov; Austin et al. 2008. Petition to List Euphilotes ancilla purpura and Euphilotes ancilla cryptica 4 Austin (1998: 552) described E. ancilla purpura: MALE. Size = 12.0 (10.9-12.9). Dorsum deep purple-blue (near Cyanine Blue); outer margins broadly black (2-2.5mm); thin black cell-end bar; veins black; forewing fringe black, occasionally faintly checkered posteriorly with grayish; hindwing fringe indistinctly checkered with whitish and gray. Ventral surface grayish-white with usual maculation of the genus boldly represented; forewing macules large and squarish; submarginal macules fused into single band posteriorly; strong gray flush along inner margin; hindwing macules smaller, generally squarish; Chrome Orange aurora well developed. FEMALE. Size = 11.5 (10.0-12.8). Dorsum dark brown (Vandyke Brown, color 121) with Spectrum Orange aurora on hindwing; fringes whitish, checkered indistinctly with grayish at vein tips. Ventral surface as male but macules tending smaller on forewing and with less distinct gray flush; hindwing with Chrome Orange aurora broader than on male. Euphilotes spp. use many varieties of buckwheat (Eriogonum) as larval host plants (Austin et al. 2008 and others). A single taxon of Euphilotes typically will use one species of host plant (Austin et al. 2008 and others). Euphilotes eclosion is closely coordinated with host plant flowering and nearly all populations are univoltine (Austin et al. 2008, citing others, and